Local teen shares lessons from Poland on Holocaust Remembrance Day

A Shepaug Valley High School senior is sharing the lessons she learned from visiting concentration camps in Poland as the world marks International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Tuesday.

Eliana Quigley, 17, spent last summer touring the historic sites as the only student from Connecticut on the trip. Now a senior, Quigley said the experience inspired her to educate her peers about history.

"I think if you’re quiet and not open about your identity, then that’s kind of how you let the hate win," Quigley said. "I grew up learning about it, watching films, and reading about it in history books. But when you actually go to the places that it occurred, it just has a more powerful effect."

Tuesday marks 81 years since the liberation of the Auschwitz German Nazi Concentration Camp, where more than 1 million people were murdered, most of them Jews. Across the era of the Holocaust, approximately 6 million Jews were killed.

Commemorations are taking place globally Tuesday, with ceremonies across Europe featuring candle-lighting vigils and the placement of white roses at memorials. The United Nations General Assembly established the annual day of commemoration in 2005 to honor the victims and commit to fighting antisemitism.